---
title: "What are “launch modes”? What are the two mechanisms by which they can be defined? What are specific types of launch modes supported?"  
description: "What are “launch modes”? What are the two mechanisms by which they can be defined? What are specific types of launch modes supported?"  
author: "Hemant Patel"  
published: 2018-01-10  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32785/what-are-launch-modes-what-are-the-two-mechanisms-by-which-they-can-be-defined-what-are-specific-types-of-launch-modes-supported  
category: "technology"  
tags: ["android"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# What are “launch modes”? What are the two mechanisms by which they can be defined? What are specific types of launch modes supported?

What are “[launch](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2461/key-details-of-the-redmi-k60-series-have-leaked-ahead-of-launch) modes”? What are the two mechanisms by which they can be defined? What are specific types of launch modes supported?

## Answers

### Answer by Prateek sharma

launch modes are generally referred to the ways in which an **activity is executed.** it basically provides **instruction** on how the activity is associated with the current ongoing task.

there are two important concepts which are to kept in mind -

1. task
2. back stack

## TASK

task refers to the number of activity associated with the app when the user interacts with it. whenever a user starts an application a new task is created, this task is the root of the first activity instance.

when a user launches new activity these activities combined to form a set of tasks which placed on one another.

![What are “launch modes”? What are the two mechanisms by which they can be defined? What are specific types of launch modes supported?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/8e904f55-4929-4d57-987d-e8605fc1ee4d/images/81923ac0-7b3a-424e-bfed-c40e4a37368a.png)\

## BACK STACK

as soon as the startActivity() is called a new activity is created which are placed in a stack. when we end a current activity it moves back to the previous activity.

there are four types of launch modes -

1. **single top** - in this mode, if the instance is already present in the top of the stack then no new instance is created. if there is no instance present then it will create a new one.
2. **single task** - in this mode, a new task is created and the instance is pushed in the stack as the root. if the instance is present on separate task no new task will be created.
3. **single instance** - this type of launch mode is used when the application has a single activity. this mode is similar to the single task except it does not create the activity in the same task.
4. **standard** - this is the default launch mode in which a new instance is created from the activity it is launched from. there are multiple instances created and multiple instances are assigned to the similar or different task.


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Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32785/what-are-launch-modes-what-are-the-two-mechanisms-by-which-they-can-be-defined-what-are-specific-types-of-launch-modes-supported

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